System and associated terminal, method, and computer program product for configuring and updating service access points and providing service content in the mobile domain

ABSTRACT

Various techniques for service access point configuration for mobile terminals of wireless systems are provided. Pre-configured service access point settings may be provided on a multimedia memory card with a client application capable of configuring the service access point settings in the mobile terminal from the pre-configured service access point settings on the multimedia memory card. Over-the-air updating of service access point settings may be performed by communication between a service access point and a mobile terminal or a client application on the mobile terminal for automatically configuring service access point settings on the mobile terminal based upon information provided by the service access point. Service content specific pricing in the mobile domain is also provided. Service content specific pricing content delivery may be provided through a particular service access point configured for the service content specific pricing.

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a continuation of U.S. application Ser. No.10/833,517, filed Apr. 28, 2004, the entirety of which is incorporatedherein.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates generally to systems and methods forcontrolling and downloading content, and, more particularly, to systemsand associated terminals, methods, and computer program products forconfiguring service access points and architectures to enable contentservice in mobile domains.

BACKGROUND

Mobile telephones and wireless communications have advancedsignificantly over the recent few decades. Today, mobile communicationdevices, or mobile terminals, represent a significant influence on avast portion of the world's population. In keeping stride with theadvancement and impact of mobile terminals, new wireless systems,devices, protocols, and services are developed and introduced to furtherthe use of these technologies, and consumers continue to demand evenmore advanced wireless functionality and capabilities. For example,mobile terminals now offer technologies that far surpass simply allowingvoice communications. Such technologies include text messaging,multimedia messaging and communications, e-mail, Internet browsing, andaccess to a wide range of wireless applications and services.

The deployment of advanced high bit-rate mobile networks has opened upnew opportunities for delivering a host of services in a way that wasnot possible with earlier second generation (2G) wireless networks.Recent systems, including third generation (3G) systems, such as thosespecified for use with the Global System for Mobile communications (GSM)wireless standard, enable the delivery of new digital services such asvideo calls and the playback of multimedia comprised of audio and video.In this regard, the increased bit rates of 3G systems widen thepossibilities for providing digital services.

A variety of alternative broadband delivery techniques have beensuggested for the increased bit rates for delivery of high quality andhigh quantity media content on 3G systems. For example, one such IPDatacasting (IPDC) delivery technique is Digital Video Broadcasting(DVB). In this regard, DVB-T (terrestrial), DVB-H (handheld) orDVB-H/IP, DVB-C (cable) and DVB-S (satellite) are variants of the DVBstandard. Other examples of broadband data broadcast networks includeJapanese Terrestrial Integrated Service Digital Broadcasting (ISDB-T),Digital Audio Broadcasting (DAB), and Multimedia Broadcast/MulticastService (MBMS), and those networks provided by the Advanced TelevisionSystems Committee (ATSC). These technologies may be used for real-timeconsumption by way of reception of broadcast content. Additionalbroadband delivery techniques include General Packet Radio Service(GPRS), Enhanced Data Rates for Global Evolution (EDGE), Wideband CodeDivision Multiple Access (WCDMA), Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA),Wireless Local Area Network (WLAN), and Bluetooth (BT).

The combined use of mobile telecommunications with a broadband deliverytechnique such as DVB-T has been proposed in the past in order toachieve efficient delivery of digital services to users on the moveincluding multimedia data and interactive services. This combinationwould take advantage of existing infrastructures in the effort toprovide personal communications (already prevalent) and the growingdemand for Internet access, together with the expected rise of digitalbroadcasting, so that users can receive these services with a singledevice. The combination of mobile telecommunications and broadbanddelivery techniques provides the possibility of interactive servicessuch as uni-directional and bi-directional services such as audio andvideo streaming (e.g., TV, radio, etc.), file downloads, and advancedgaming applications, etc. In this regard, many conventional mobileterminals are capable of downloading content for online use (e.g.,real-time and near-time streaming audio and/or video), and, moreincreasingly, also offline use (e.g., storing audio and/or video forsubsequent access and presentation by the mobile terminal).

Similarly, computer networks, television networks, and telephonynetworks are experiencing unprecedented technological expansion, fueledby consumer demand. Wireless and mobile networking technologies haveattempted to address related consumer demands, while providing moreflexibility and immediacy of information transfer.

Current and future wireline and wireless networking technologiescontinue to facilitate ease of information transfer and convenience tousers. The proliferation of local, regional, and global networks such asthe Internet has availed a sea of information to society. Thesenetworking technologies have expanded to increasingly include wirelessand mobile technologies. For example, information available via theInternet can now be downloaded onto mobile wireless units, such ascellular telephones, personal digital assistants (PDAs), laptopcomputers, etc. One such technology facilitating the transfer ofInternet content to and from wireless devices is the WirelessApplication Protocol (WAP), which integrates the Internet and othernetworks with wireless network platforms. Generally, WirelessApplication Protocol is a set of protocols that accounts forcharacteristics and functionality of both Internet standards andstandards for wireless services. It is independent of wireless networkstandards, and is designed as an open standard. Wireless ApplicationProtocol bridges the gap between the wireline Internet paradigm and thewireless domain, to allow wireless device users to enjoy the benefits ofthe Internet across both platforms.

Second generation wireless service, often referred to as 2G wirelessservice, is a current wireless service based on circuit-switchedtechnology. In this regard, 2G systems, such as Global System for Mobilecommunications (GSM) and Personal Communications Services (PCS), usedigital radio technology for improved quality and a broader range ofservices over first generation mobile technologies. Third generationwireless service, often referred to as 3G wireless service, refers to aset of digital technologies that promises improvements in capacity,speed and efficiency by deploying new packet-based transmissionmethodologies between terminals and the network. Users of 3G devices andnetworks will have access to multimedia services such asvideo-on-demand, video conferencing, fast web access and file transfer.Existing and future services are, and will continue to be, provided bynetwork service operators who make services and applications availableto mobile device users via the network. Current multimedia capablephones with color displays and sufficient computational power andcellular connectivity can provide rich media services for end users.These services may be generally referred to as multimedia audio andvisual services such as television or TV programs and episodes, musicvideos, sports events and programs, comedy programs, movies, news showsand programs, radio shows, etc. However, improvements in transmissionand consumption technologies cannot be fully supported by the existinginfrastructure for wireless services. In keeping with improvements tothe infrastructure for wireless services, accommodations must be madefor changes and service methods must be developed to account forimplications of improved transmission and consumption technologies.

In order to take advantage of these various types of technologies, and,in particular, to avail a particular mobile terminal of the ability toacquire data for these technologies, a mobile device or terminal mayneed to be able to communicate with service access points (sAP) whichmay be virtual service access points, not to be confused with generalconnection access points (AP). General connection access points providea mobile terminal a connection to a network. A service access pointprovides a mobile terminal a connection through or in a wireless networkto a particular service. A service access point may be, in essence, adata tunnel or outlet from a gateway GPRS support node (GGSN) to acertain service. Frequently, a user wishing to use a particulartechnology, such as to download media to a mobile terminal, mustconfigure a service access point in the mobile terminal by editing orestablishing settings for the service access point. For example, aclient application may require a connection to a particular servicethrough a service access point. However, service access point settingsvary between operators and service providers. Service access pointsettings may define, for example, where and how a terminal IP address isallocated, what tunneling mechanism is used between a service accesspoint and a server hosting the particular service being accessed throughthe service access point, data transfer billing, routing, etc. Thus, auser must configure the correct settings for any desired service accesspoints into the mobile terminal.

Similarly, even after a service access point is properly configured in amobile terminal, the settings for that service access point may need tobe updated from time to time due to changes by the mobile operator orservice provider. Additional service access points may need to beconfigured on the mobile terminal for a user to have the ability todownload media and content from other service access points.

Currently, the typical method of configuring, updating and addingservice access points is by way of manual configuration where a userinputs service access point settings into a mobile terminal from acommand line or through a graphical user interface (GUI). However,manual input by a user can be inaccurate or performed incorrectly.Another typical method of configuring, updating, and adding serviceaccess points is by requesting the settings for a service access pointvia the Internet or by short message service (SMS) messaging. Thesemechanisms provide the correct service access point settings for aparticular service and service access point directly to a user of amobile terminal, typically by way of a return SMS message. Again, thismethod requires user interaction with the mobile terminal to correctlyconfigure the service access point. In some applications, a user maystill be required to manually input the service access point settings.In other applications, a user may be able to manually accept thereturned SMS message service access point settings whereby the mobileterminal will capture the service access point settings in the returnedSMS message. Although a requesting method provides less opportunity formistake or incorrect information, requesting methods continue to relyupon manual interaction for configuring service access point settings.In addition, both of these methods, manual input and requested settings,do not adequately provide a solution to the need of a mobile operator orservice provider to update service access point settings.

A typical business environment for accessing and consuming multimediaservices in a mobile domain includes one agreement between a consumer orend user of a mobile terminal and the consumer's service or connectivityprovider or network operator and another agreement between the consumerand a content provider. In these agreements, the consumer pays for theconnection to transmit content. The connection with the service providermay be priced as a flat rate for unlimited data, a flat rate for aspecific amount of data with additional costs for data exceeding theflat rate amount of data, or a price per amount of data. Similar modelsare used in both the mobile domain and in a fixed domain. Theseconnectivity rates may vary depending upon factors such as availablecoverage, bit rates, quality of service, etc.

The consumer uses the connection from the service provider in order toaccess content. Content may be offered directly by a content providerthat may be the content creator or a content aggregator. A contentaggregator and the content creator may be the same company orcorporation. Similar to the varying pricing options for connections,content may be purchased from the content provider under a purchaseagreement setting forth prices per item, time period, set of contentelements, quantity or amount of content, or content type. One ofordinary skill in the art will recognize that these pricing models, andthe connectivity pricing models, are typical examples that have beenused with 2G wireless services. These and similar pricing models may beused for 3G wireless services, but due to increased technologicaladvances are not appropriate for various content and services that maybe available for 3G wireless services.

Once the connection agreements and content agreements have beenestablished, a consumer is able to receive content for consumption.Typically, the content is delivered from a service delivery platform ofthe content provider, through a network operator or service provider tothe mobile terminal where the content is presented to the consumer by aclient application in the mobile terminal. This type of content deliveryis not aptly suited to various 3G wireless technologies and associatedcontent and services in part due to increased bandwidth potential forcontent and services available for 3G technologies.

SUMMARY

In light of the foregoing background, embodiments of the presentinvention provide an improved system and associated terminal, method,and computer program product for configuring service access pointsand/or enabling service content specific pricing in the mobile domain.

Embodiments of the present invention permit a terminal to acquireservice access point settings from pre-configured service access pointsettings that may be provided such as on a multimedia memory card with aclient application. Embodiments of the present invention permit aterminal to update service access point settings over-the-air. Andembodiments of the present invention permit the provision of servicecontent specific pricing content delivery and associated billing models.

In one embodiment of a system for providing a service access pointsetting to a mobile terminal, the mobile terminal may accept a memorycard with a pre-configured service access point setting thereon whichcan be used by a client application or service client application toconfigure a service access point setting on the mobile terminal.Pre-configured service access point settings may include a serviceaccess point name, address, user name, password, authentication setting,maximum data speed setting, session type setting, security setting, oralternate server address. In an embodiment of the present invention, aclient application may reside on the same memory card with thepre-configured service access point setting or settings or may resideseparately from the memory card in the mobile terminal. An embodiment ofa mobile terminal of the present invention may include a memory card forinsertion into a memory card port of the mobile terminal, where thememory card includes at least one pre-configured service access pointsetting. The mobile terminal may also include a client application thatoperates on the mobile terminal using a pre-configured service accesspoint setting from the memory card. The client application may reside onthe memory card with the pre-configured service access point setting ormay reside in the mobile terminal. Also provided are associatedterminals, methods and computer program products for embodiments of thepresent invention as previously described. An embodiment of the methodof the present invention is also provided wherein the activation of aclient application on a mobile terminal requires a service access pointsetting to operate, thereby initiating the configuration of a serviceaccess point setting on the mobile terminal. Thus, providingpre-configured service access point settings and automaticallyconfiguring a mobile terminal to use such settings simplifies andincreases reliability of initial configuration of service access pointsin mobile terminals.

An embodiment of a system of the present invention is provided forupdating at least one service access point setting on a mobile terminal.The mobile terminal may communicate with a wireless network, where thenetwork provides a preconfigured service access point setting that maybe delivered to the mobile terminal for use by a client application,such as to update the service access point settings on the mobileterminal. A pre-configured service access point setting provided by awireless network to the mobile terminal may be configured on the mobileterminal as a service access point setting for the client application. Apre-configured service access point setting of an embodiment of thepresent invention may include any or all of the items of informationpreviously described with respect to a pre-configured service accesspoint setting on a memory card. In an embodiment of the presentinvention the downloading of a pre-configured service access pointsetting from a wireless network to a mobile terminal may be initiated byeither the wireless network or the mobile terminal. Where the downloadof a pre-configured service access point setting is initiated by amobile terminal, the initiation may be controlled by a clientapplication on the mobile terminal. Thus, automatically updating serviceaccess point configurations with provided service access point settingssimplifies the process of updating service access point configurations.

Also provided are embodiments of systems and methods for providingservice content specific pricing content delivery, such as which may beused with large file download services. An embodiment of a system of thepresent invention may include a service content delivery gateway and aservice content specific pricing service access point through which theservice content specific pricing content is delivered from the servicecontent delivery gateway to a mobile terminal, possibly to a clientapplication on the mobile terminal. An embodiment of a method of thepresent invention for providing service content specific pricing contentdelivery may include offering service content specific pricing for atleast some content, subscribing to the service content specific pricing,and delivering the content for the subscribed service content specificpricing. In one embodiment of a method of the present invention, thecontent is provided through a service content specific pricing serviceaccess point. The content available for service content specificpricing, in one embodiment of the present invention, may be provided orsupplied by a content provider to a service provider. A consumer of anembodiment of the present invention for service content specific pricingcontent delivery may be charged a single fee for consumption of thecontent and delivery of the content. Various subscription models may beprovided to the consumer for different service content specific pricingcontent. The price of a service content specific pricing subscriptionmay include the cost of the content and the transmission cost fordelivering the content. In one embodiment of the present invention, thesubscription cost may also include the aggregation cost of a contentaggregator that acquires the service content specific pricing contentfrom a content creator and provides or supplies that content to aservice provider for delivery to a consumer. Thus, service contentspecific pricing permits customers to pay a single fee while permittingpricing and service content offerings to be better tailored for consumermedia interests and use.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING(S)

Having thus described the invention in general terms, reference will nowbe made to the accompanying drawings, which are not necessarily drawn toscale, and wherein:

FIG. 1 is a schematic block diagram of a wireless communications systemaccording to one embodiment of the present invention including acellular network to which a terminal is bi-directionally coupled throughwireless RF links;

FIG. 2 is a schematic block diagram of an entity capable of operating asa terminal, origin server, digital broadcast receiving terminal and/or adigital broadcaster, in accordance with embodiments of the presentinvention;

FIG. 3 is a schematic block diagram of service access pointcommunications of a wireless communication system for updating serviceaccess point settings, in accordance with embodiments of the presentinvention;

FIG. 4 is a diagram of conventional manual service access pointconfiguration;

FIG. 5 is a diagram of conventional manual service access point requestconfiguration;

FIG. 6 is a diagram of conventional manual service access point SMSrequest and configuration;

FIG. 7 is a flow chart of providing service access point settings to amobile terminal, in accordance with embodiments of the presentinvention;

FIG. 8 is a diagram of updating service access point settings of amobile terminal, in accordance with embodiments of the presentinvention;

FIG. 9 is a schematic block diagram of a content system and wirelesscommunication system for delivering content for mobile consumption;

FIG. 10 is a schematic block diagram of content delivery and wirelessdelivery to a mobile terminal for enabling service content specificpricing, in accordance with embodiments of the present invention;

FIG. 11 is a schematic block diagram of a content specific delivery to amobile terminal, in accordance with embodiments of the presentinvention;

FIG. 12 is a schematic block diagram of a content system and a wirelesscommunication system for implementing and providing service contentspecific pricing to a consumer, in accordance with embodiments of thepresent invention; and

FIG. 13 is a schematic block diagram of a content system and a wirelesscommunication system of one embodiment of the present invention forimplementing and providing service content specific pricing to aconsumer.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

The present inventions now will be described more fully hereinafter withreference to the accompanying drawings, in which some, but not allembodiments of the invention are shown. Indeed, these inventions may beembodied in many different forms and should not be construed as limitedto the embodiments set forth herein; rather, these embodiments areprovided so that this disclosure will satisfy applicable legalrequirements. Like numbers refer to like elements throughout.

While a primary use of the present invention may be in the field ofmobile phone technology, it will be appreciated from the followingdescription that the invention is also useful for many types of devicesthat are generally referenced herein as mobile terminals, including, forexample, handheld data terminals and personal data assistants, portablemedical devices, personal multimedia units such as MP3 players, andother portable electronics. Similarly, one of ordinary skill in the artwill recognize the various applications to video download, videostreaming, and broadcasting technologies applicable to providing contentto mobile terminals for mobile consumption.

Referring to FIG. 1, an illustration of one type of terminal and systemthat would benefit from the present invention is provided. The system,method and computer program product of embodiments of the presentinvention will be primarily described in conjunction with mobilecommunications applications. It should be understood, however, that thesystem, method and computer program product of embodiments of thepresent invention can be utilized in conjunction with a variety of otherapplications, both in the mobile communications industries and outsideof the mobile communications industries. For example, the system, methodand computer program product of embodiments of the present invention canbe utilized in conjunction with wireline and/or wireless network (e.g.,Internet) applications.

As shown, a terminal 10 may include an antenna 12 and associatedtransceiver for transmitting signals to and for receiving signals from abase site or base station (BS) 14. The base station 14 is a part of acellular network that includes elements required to operate the network,such as a mobile switching center (MSC) 16. As well known to thoseskilled in the art, the cellular network may also be referred to as aBase Station/MSC/Interworking function (BMI). In operation, the mobileswitching center 16 is capable of routing calls and messages to and fromthe terminal 10 when the terminal 10 is making and receiving calls. Themobile switching center 16 also provides a connection to landline trunkswhen the terminal 10 is involved in a call. Further, the mobileswitching center 16 can be coupled to a server gateway (GTW) 18.

The mobile switching center 16 can be coupled to a data network, such asa local area network (LAN), a metropolitan area network (MAN), and/or awide area network (WAN). The mobile switching center 16 can be directlycoupled to the data network. In one typical embodiment, however, themobile switching center 16 is coupled to a server gateway 18, and theserver gateway is coupled to a WAN, such as the Internet 20. In turn,devices such as processing elements (e.g., personal computers, servercomputers or the like) can be coupled to the terminal 10 via theInternet 20. For example, as explained below, the processing elementscan include one or more processing elements associated with an originserver 22 or the like, one of which being illustrated in FIG. 1.

In addition to the mobile switching center 16, the base station 14 canbe coupled to a signaling GPRS support node (SGSN) 24. As known to thoseskilled in the art, the SGSN 24 is typically capable of performingfunctions similar to the mobile switching center 16 for packet switchedservices. The SGSN 24, like the mobile switching center 16, can becoupled to a data network, such as the Internet 20. An SGSN can bedirectly coupled to the data network. In a more typical embodiment,however, the SGSN 26 is coupled to a packet-switched core network, suchas a GPRS core network 26. The packet-switched core network may then becoupled to another server gateway, such as a server gateway GPRS supportnode (GGSN) 28. The GGSN 28 may be coupled to the Internet 20 orcomprise service access points (sAP) 29 for communication beyond theGGSN 28.

By coupling the SGSN 24 to the GPRS core network 26 and the GGSN 28,devices such as origin servers 22 can be coupled to the terminal 10 viathe Internet 20, GGSN 28, and SGSN 24 or provide service to the terminal10 via the service access point 29, GGSN 28, and SGSN 24. In thisregard, devices such as origin servers can communicate with the terminal10 across the SGSN 24, GPRS 26 and GGSN 28. For example, origin serverscan provide content to a terminal such as in accordance with theMultimedia Broadcast Multicast Service (MBMS). As will be appreciated byone of ordinary skill in the art, by coupling or connecting a terminal10 and an origin server 22, the terminal 10 can communicate with theorigin server 22 to thereby carry out various functions of the terminal10, such as to transmit data, content or the like to, and/or receivecontent, data or the like from, the origin server 22. As used herein,the terms “data,” “content,” “information” and similar terms may be usedto interchangeably to refer to data capable of being transmitted,received and/or stored in accordance with embodiments of the presentinvention. Thus, use of any such terms should not be taken to limit thespirit and scope of the present invention.

In addition to being coupled to the base station 14, the terminal 10 canbe coupled to one or more wireless access points (APs) 30. The accesspoints 30 may be configured to communicate with the terminal 10 inaccordance techniques such as, for example, radio frequency (RF),Bluetooth (BT), infrared (IrDA), or any of a number of differentwireless networking techniques, including local area networking (LAN)and wireless local area networking (WLAN) techniques. Additionally, oralternatively, the terminal 10 can be coupled to one or more userworkstations (WS) 31. Each user workstation 31 can comprise a computingsystem such as personal computers, laptop computers or the like. In thisregard, the user workstations 31 can be configured to communicate withthe terminal in accordance with techniques such as, for example, RF,Bluetooth, infrared, or any of a number of different wireline orwireless communication techniques, including LAN and/or WLAN techniques.One or more of the user workstations 31 can additionally, oralternatively, include a removable memory capable of storing content,which can thereafter be transferred to the terminal 10. A base stationmay also function as an access point.

The access points 30 and the workstations 31 may be coupled to theInternet 20. Like with the mobile switching center 16, the access points30 and workstations 31 can be directly coupled to the Internet 20. Inone advantageous embodiment, however, the access points 30 areindirectly coupled to the Internet 20 via a server gateway 18. As willbe appreciated, by directly or indirectly connecting the terminals 10and the origin server 22, as well as any of a number of other devices,to the Internet 20, the terminals 10 can communicate with one another,the origin server 22, etc., to thereby carry out various functions ofthe terminal 10, such as to transmit data, content or the like to,and/or receive content, data or the like from, the origin server 22.

Further, the terminal 10 can additionally, or alternatively, be coupledto a digital broadcaster 32 via a digital broadcast network, such as aterrestrial digital video broadcasting (e.g., DVB-T, DVB-H, ISDB-T,ATSC, etc.) network. As will be appreciated, by directly or indirectlyconnecting the terminals 10 and the digital broadcaster, the terminals10 can receive content, such as content for one or more television,radio and/or data channels, from the digital broadcaster 32. In thisregard, the digital broadcaster 32 can include, or be coupled to, atransmitter (TX) 34, such as a DVB-T transmitter. Similarly, theterminal 10 can include a receiver, such as a DVB-T receiver (notshown). The terminal 10 can be capable of receiving content from any ofa number of different entities in any one or more of a different numberof manners. In one embodiment, for example, a terminal 10′ capable oftransmitting and/or receiving data, content, or the like in accordancewith a DVB (e.g., DVB-T, DVB-H, etc.) technique as well as a cellular(e.g., 1G, 2G, 2.5G, 3G, etc.) communication technique. In such anembodiment, the terminal 10′ may include an antenna 12A for receivingcontent from the DVB-T transmitter, and another antenna 12B fortransmitting signals to and for receiving signals from a base station 14or access point 30. For more information on such a terminal, see U.S.patent application Ser. No. 09/894,532, entitled: Receiver, filed Jun.29, 2001, the contents of which is incorporated herein by reference inits entirety.

In addition to, or in lieu of, directly coupling the terminal 10 to thedigital broadcaster 32 via the transmitter 34, the terminal 10 can becoupled to a digital broadcast (DB) receiving terminal 36 which, inturn, can be coupled to the digital broadcaster 32, such as directlyand/or via a transmitter. In such instances, a digital broadcastreceiving terminal can comprise a DVB-T receiver, such as a DVB-Treceiver in the form of a set top box. A terminal can be locally coupledto a digital broadcast receiving terminal, such as via a personal areanetwork. In one advantageous embodiment, a terminal can additionally oralternatively be indirectly coupled to a digital broadcast receivingterminal via the Internet 20.

Referring now to FIG. 2, a block diagram of an entity capable ofoperating as a terminal 10, origin server 22, digital broadcastreceiving terminal 36, and/or a digital broadcaster 32 is shown inaccordance with one embodiment of the present invention. Although shownas separate entities, in some embodiments, one or more entities maysupport one or more of a terminal, origin server, digital broadcastreceiving terminal, and/or a digital broadcaster, logically separatedbut co-located within one entity. For example, a single entity maysupport a logically separated, but co-located, terminal and digitalbroadcast receiving terminal. Also, for example, a single entity maysupport a logically separate, but co-located digital broadcast receivingterminal and digital broadcaster.

As shown, the entity capable of operating as a terminal 10, originserver 22, digital broadcast receiving terminal 36, and/or a digitalbroadcaster 32 can generally include a processor 38 connected to amemory 40. The processor 38 can also be connected to at least oneinterface 42 or other means for transmitting and/or receiving data,content, or the like. The memory 40 can comprise volatile and/ornon-volatile memory, and typically stores content, data, or the like.For example, the memory 40 typically stores software applications,instructions or the like for the processor 38 to perform stepsassociated with operation of the entity in accordance with embodimentsof the present invention. Also, for example, the memory 40 typicallystores content transmitted from, or received by, the terminal, digitalbroadcast receiving terminal, and/or digital broadcaster. A processor,memory, and interface, along with computer logic therefore such asoperating system software and software applications, may comprise aclient platform capable of supporting operation of client applicationsthereon.

One of ordinary skill in the art will recognize that a service accesspoint may be configured with one piece of information, typicallyreferred to as a service access point setting, or numerous pieces ofinformation, typically referred to as service access point settingswhere more than one setting is required to configure a service accesspoint. As used herein, a service access point setting and service accesspoint settings are referred to generally as service access pointsettings. Although it may be possible for a service access point to beconfigured with a single service access point setting, such as an IFaddress, one of ordinary skill in the art will recognize that a commonconvention is to refer to the configuration for a service access pointas the service access point settings, even where possibly a serviceaccess point may be configured with only one service access pointsetting. This convention has been used herein for clarity of thedescription of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a schematic block diagram of service access pointcommunications of a wireless communication system for configuring andupdating service access point settings, in accordance with embodimentsof the present invention. With regard to FIG. 3, a terminal 10 may beable to communicate with origin servers 22 or other content sourcestransmitting via service access points 29 a, 29 b, and 29 c whichtransmit using service access point settings 1 (sAPS1). As the terminal10 moves throughout the wireless communication system, the terminal 10will continue to be able to communicate with the various origin servers22 because the terminal 10 has properly configured service access pointsettings to communicate with various service access points 29 a, 29 b,29 c throughout the system transmitting on service access point settings1 (sAPS1). One of ordinary skill in the art will recognize that serviceaccess points may be configured to share service access point settingssuch as to allow for roaming and may be configured with unique serviceaccess point settings, such that no other service access point would usethe same service access point settings. Service access points may beconfigured for any type of application and use. However, if a particularservice access point 29 c requires a change from service access pointsettings 1 to service access point settings 2 (sAPS2), the terminal 10may need to be configured to communicate with that particular serviceaccess point 29 c using service access point settings 2. As previouslydescribed, the terminal may be manually configured with service accesspoint settings 2 and may be configured using manual interaction tocommunicate with a base station or using the Internet to retrieveservice access point settings, such as service access point settings 2,for update typically provided via short message service, or an SMSmessage. These methods are further described with reference to FIGS. 4,5, and 6. However, the terminals 10 may advantageously be configuredwithout manual interaction in accordance with embodiments of the presentinvention as further described with reference to FIGS. 7 and 8.

FIG. 4 is a diagram of conventional manual service access pointconfiguration. As shown in FIG. 4, a user may manually configure serviceaccess point settings, such as service access point settings 1 (APS1) inorder to establish communications with a service access point 29 whichtransmits using service access point settings 1. In such a situation, auser of terminal 10 performs the entire step of configuring the terminal10 with service access point settings 1 without semi-automated orautomated assistance. Manual configuration may be performed, forexample, from a command line or using a graphical user interface (GUI).

As an alternative, FIG. 5 is a diagram of conventional manual serviceaccess point request configuration. This method may be referred to as asemi-automatic method. A user of a terminal 10 will request from anexternal source, for example, a base station 14 of the wireless providerfor the terminal 10, the service access point settings for communicatingwith and/or through a particular service access point 29. A base station14 may provide the service access point settings to the terminal 10. Theuser of the terminal 10 may then, using the service access pointsettings provided by the base station 14, manually configure theterminal 10 with the service access point settings provided by the basestation 14. Once the terminal 10 has been configured with the properservice access point settings, such as service access point settings 1,the terminal 10 may be able to communicate with and/or through a serviceaccess point 29 transmitting with service access point settings 1.

As a further alternative, FIG. 6 is a diagram of conventional manualservice access point SMS request and configuration. This semi-automatedmethod is similar to the method described with reference to FIG. 5 wherea user requests and is provided service access point settings forconfiguration of a terminal 10. By comparison to FIG. 5 where thewireless system provides communication through a base station 14, FIG. 6shows an embodiment of a wireless communication system that permits auser of a terminal 10 to request service access point settings either(1) through a base station 14 or (2) using a workstation 31 connected tothe Internet 20. If the user requests service access point settings froma base station 14, the procedure may be as described with reference toFIG. 5. However, if a user requests service access point settings viathe Internet 20, the request may be submitted through a server gateway18 to a mobile switching center 16 and then provided to the user of theterminal 10 via a base station 14, continuing the process as describedwith reference to FIG. 5. However, by comparison to FIG. 5, theembodiment of FIG. 6 shows that the base station 14 provides the serviceaccess point settings via a short message service (SMS) message. Wherethe service access point settings are provided as an SMS message, theuser of the terminal 10 may be able to manually accept the serviceaccess point settings provided in the SMS message. Upon manualacceptance by the user, the terminal 10 may be configured with theservice access point settings provided in the SMS message. The terminal10 may then be able to communicate with and/or through a service accesspoint 29 transmitting using the service access point settings 1 providedin an SMS message by the base station 14.

A service access point may be used by a terminal to download subscriptedcontent, as further described herein with respect to enabling andproviding service content specific downloads and pricing. One ofordinary skill in the art will recognize that embodiments of the presentinvention involving service access points are related only to wirelessnetwork systems that use service access points for communication withmobile terminals and, thus, may not currently include broadcastsolutions such as DVB-T. One of ordinary skill in the art will alsoappreciate that service access point embodiments of the presentinvention can be used for both downloading and uploading solutions toand from mobile terminals.

In many embodiments for content delivery, a client application, such asa multimedia client application or large file download application, isdelivered to a consumer on a multimedia memory card (MMC). The clientapplication is used with the service provided by the network operator inorder to provide content delivery and execution on a mobile terminal. Aspreviously discussed, a mobile terminal, and the client applicationoperating thereon, communicates with and/or through a service accesspoint based upon service access point settings that are configured inthe terminal. Client applications may be delivered on multimedia memorycards to end users of different mobile network operators using differentservice access point settings. Thus, each end user will need to have thecorrect service access point settings for that end user's subscriptioncontract with the end user's mobile network operator.

Embodiments of the present invention are directed at automaticallyconfiguring the correct service access point settings on terminals. Byautomating the configuration of service access point settings on mobileterminals, the potential for error is decreased or removed in such amanner that content delivery and end user consumption of the content maybecome more reliable than systems that require manual input and/orinteraction for configuration of service access point settings in mobileterminals. Also, by automating aspects of configuring service accesspoint settings in mobile terminals, different service access points fordifferent geographic areas may be selected based upon the location ofthe end user, as opposed to losing service as might occur if not usingthe present invention. As will be appreciated by one of ordinary skillin the art, by automating aspects of configuring service access pointsettings in mobile terminals, various other functional improvements maybe implemented.

One embodiment for automating the configuration of service access pointsettings is by providing the service access point settings for differentmobile network operators pre-installed on multimedia memory cardstogether with a client application. When the client application isinvoked by the end user on the mobile terminal, the correct serviceaccess point settings are automatically configured on the terminal basedupon the specific network operator functioning with the terminal. Aflowchart of this embodiment for providing service access point settingsto a mobile terminal according to the present invention is shown in FIG.7. When the user activates the client application 70, the clientapplication identifies that it requires communication with and/orthrough a service access point to acquire content and operate 72. Theclient application may first identify whether a correct service accesspoint is configured in the terminal 73. If the mobile terminal isconfigured with an acceptable service access point 82, the clientapplication may establish communication with and/or through the serviceaccess point 78 for content delivery and consumption. If either noservice access point is configured in the terminal or an unacceptableservice access point is configured in the terminal 83, the clientapplication will attempt to acquire service access point settings from amultimedia memory card with pre-configured service access point settings74. If no pre-configured service access point settings are available 84,the automated process may stop 81, thereafter prompting the user toconfigure a service access point such as by manually configuring theservice access point or requesting service access point settings in anSMS message. However, if the memory card has been provided withpre-configured service access point settings 85, the client applicationwill acquire a pre-configured access card setting from the memory card75. The multimedia memory card may include a table or list of serviceaccess point settings, possibly associated with and organized by networkoperators, geographic locations such as according to time zones oravailable base stations, available content, etc. The client applicationmay be able to automatically determine from the mobile terminal whatnetwork operator is being used and/or what service access point settingsmay be appropriate for the current geographic location of the mobileterminal and the intended content delivery and consumption activity orservice of the client application. Alternatively, the user may be ableto select a desired service access point setting from a list. The clientapplication may invoke automatic configuration of the pre-configuredservice access point settings, acquired from the multimedia memory card,into the mobile terminal 76. The client application may operate usingthe pre-configured service access point setting on the multimedia memorycard or, preferably, configure the service access point in the mobileterminal using the pre-configured service access point settings. Withthe properly configured service access point settings, the mobileterminal may establish communication with and/or through the serviceaccess point 78 in order to provide the client application with contentfor proper operation of the client application and mobile consumption bythe user.

With respect to the service access point settings that may be providedas pre-installed on a multimedia memory card, one of ordinary skill inthe art will recognize that service access point settings may include aservice access point name, a user name, a password for the user name, anIP address, where and how a terminal IP address is allocated, whattunneling mechanism is used between a service access point and a serverhosting the particular service being accessed through the service accesspoint, data transfer billing, routing, and other information regardingtransmission of information through the particular service access point.The information that is provided for a pre-installed service accesspoint settings on a multimedia memory card is the information asrequired to configure a service access point in a mobile terminal, thus,together the information provides pre-configured service access pointsettings. Service access point settings, and any particular informationthat may be required to configure a service access point, may varybetween different network operators. By providing alternate serviceaccess point settings on a multimedia memory card, a client applicationis not limited to a particular operator specific or service access pointspecific communication between a mobile terminal and a server gatewayproviding content for the client application. Thus, when the clientapplication is enabled for use on the mobile terminal by the end user,in an embodiment of the present invention that provides alternateservice access point settings pre-configured in a multimedia memorycard, the correct settings for the client application and networkoperator communication will be taken into use by the mobile terminal asenabled by the client application and the pre-configured service accesspoint settings provided on the multimedia memory card.

Following an initial configuration of a service access point, theconfiguration for a service access point may need to be updated orchanged, such as where a network operator changes the configuration fora service access point, or an alternative service access point may needto be used instead requiring configuration of service access pointsettings for the alternative service access point. FIG. 8 is a diagramof an embodiment for updating service access point settings of a mobileterminal in accordance with the present invention. As an alternative toor in addition to configuring a service access point based uponpre-configured service access point settings on a multimedia memorycard, embodiments of the present invention also provide automatic updateof a service access point that has been configured on the terminal. Forexample, in an embodiment of the present invention shown in FIG. 8, aterminal 10 may be configured to communicate with a service access point29 using service access point settings 1 (sAPS1). However, the networkoperator may want or need to change the service access point settingsfor the service access point 29 from service access point settings 1 toservice access point settings 2 (sAPS2). As with regard to FIG. 7 wherepre-configured service access point settings are provided on amultimedia memory card, a multimedia content service and clientapplication, and many other services utilizing GPRS connections, requirenot only that a service access point be configured with service accesspoint settings, but that the service access point settings are correctsuch that the mobile terminal is able to communicate with the serviceaccess point. Thus, if the service access point settings change, such asif a network operator changes the configuration, the end user must alsobe able to update the settings in the mobile terminal 10. The embodimentshown in FIG. 8 provides for automated update of service access pointsettings to account for changes to service access point settings and useof additional or different service access points.

A service access point 29 may be configured with functional capabilitysuch that the service access point 29 identifies the service accesspoint settings of mobile terminals 10 that connect to the service accesspoint 29 to identify service access point settings that need to beupdated. For example, if the terminal 10 is communicating with awireless network or origin server through the service access point 29using service access point settings 1, the service access point 29 mayidentify that terminal 10 needs to have its service access pointsettings updated to service access point settings 2. Thus, after theterminal 10 has established a communication with the service accesspoint 29 using service access point settings 1, the service access point29 will identify that terminal 10 needs to update to service accesspoint settings 2 based upon the terminal's 10 use of service accesspoint settings 1 and knowledge that a change should be made to serviceaccess point settings 2. Accordingly, the service access point 29 mayprovide service access point settings 2 to the terminal 10. The terminal10 may accept the updated service access point settings 2 from theservice access point 29. The terminal 10, possibly under control of aclient application communicating with the service access point 29 andoperating on the terminal 10, may then automatically update the serviceaccess point settings configured in the mobile terminal 10 to serviceaccess point settings 2. The mobile terminal 10, and a clientapplication thereof, may then re-establish communication with theservice access point 29 using service access point settings 2.

The embodiment described with respect to FIG. 8 provides for automaticupdate of service access point settings performed over-the-air. Theservice access point 29 knows that the service access pointconfiguration is or has changed and delivers this information to aclient application residing in the mobile terminal 10. Once the correctsettings have been received by the mobile terminal 10, the clientapplication may take the new service access point settings into use, andthe client application service usage can continue.

An update or change from the old service access point settings to newservice access point settings may occur under at least two scenarios.For example, the old service access point settings may become invalidwhen the new service access point settings begin to be used, or the newservice access point settings and old service access point settings mayboth be valid or usable during a period of transition. In the case wherethe old service access point settings become invalid when the newservice access point settings begin use, a problem arises that the enduser or mobile terminal needs to know that the new service access pointsettings are going to take effect and needs to know the new serviceaccess point settings before the change occurs such that communicationis not interrupted. Also, because the new service access point settingscannot be used until the new service access point settings are inservice, when the old service access point settings are discontinued,the end user or mobile terminal needs to know when to switch from theold service access point settings to the new service access pointsettings. In an embodiment of the present invention, the clientapplication on the mobile terminal may periodically request operatinginstructions from the service access point, referred to as periodicpolling. Before the new service access point settings are in service forthe service access point, the service access point may deliverinstructions to the client application to change the service accesspoint settings on the mobile terminal at a certain time in the future.Thus, the service access point may provide the new service access pointsettings to the client application before the service access pointsettings are required for use. Thus, the client application will havethe new service access point settings prior to when the old serviceaccess point settings are discontinued. The service access pointsettings may provide instructions that the new service access pointsettings are required to be implemented at a relative period of time,for example, twenty minutes after receipt of the new service accesspoint settings, or at an absolute time, for example, on Jan. 1, 2004, at12:00:01 a.m. One of ordinary skill in the art will recognize that therelative or absolute time for implementation of the new service accesspoint settings would likely be the time or the approximate time when thenew service access point settings become valid and are used by theservice access point. In addition, the instructions provided by theservice access point may include instructions that connections to theservice access point should not be made during a transitional period,referred to as a buffer time, to avoid possible problems, for example,delays in configuration changes by the network operator. Thetransitional period or buffer time may be, for example, one hour afterthe time when the transition from the old service access point settingsto the new service access point settings takes place. Furthermore,because when the new service access point settings are implemented,numerous polling requests may be received from client applications,either at the transition time or after the buffer time expires, varyinginitial polling times for using the new service access point settingsmay be established for different mobile terminals such that theimplementation to the new service access point settings may beimplemented at staggered periods of time for different subsets of mobileterminals, referred to as a rolling implementation. The informationrequired to establish a rolling implementation may be provided asfurther instructions by the service access point to the clientapplication when conveying the new service access point settings. Forexample, if N subscribers use the service access point, the firstquarter of those N subscribers may receive instructions to poll theservice access point using the new service access point settings at Yminutes after the new service access point settings are in service attime X, the second quarter may receive instructions to poll at Y+Zminutes after the new service access point settings are in service attime X, the third quarter at X+Y+2Z, and the fourth quarter at X+Y+3Z.

In the situation where the old service access point settings and the newservice access point settings are both operational during a certainperiod of transitional time, the transition from the old service accesspoint settings to the new service access point settings may be lesscomplicated. Because client applications periodically poll or requestoperating instructions from the service access point, the service accesspoint may implement the new service access point settings on a rollingimplementation inherent in the varying poll requests from clientapplications of different mobile terminals, thus eliminatinginstructions to create a rolling implementation. And because both theold and new service access point settings are operational during thetransitional period, after first updating the service access pointsettings on the mobile terminal, the client application may immediatelybegin using the new service access point settings without concern forservice interruption between termination of the first settings andactivation of the second settings.

By performing service access point settings configuration using thepreviously described embodiments of the present invention, thepossibility of incorrectly configuring service access point settings ona mobile terminal is reduced if not avoided or eliminated and theconfiguration update process may be invisible to the user of the mobileterminal, thus providing a better end-user experience of the clientapplication and content delivery.

An example schematic block diagram of a content system and wirelesscommunication system for delivering content for mobile consumption isprovided in FIG. 9. The media or data 90 which is consumed by the userat the mobile terminal 110 typically is content 92 created 94, andpossibly brought together or aggregated 96, and provided for delivery 98to the mobile terminal. The aggregation of content 96 is equivalent to aTV broadcaster that brings together content from different contentcreators. The entity providing the content for delivery may be referredto as the content provider which may be the content creator or thecontent aggregator, or both where the creator is also an aggregator.Examples of media that may be created or aggregated are televisionmedia, music, radio, movies, videos, gaming, web pages, pictures,documents, software, and game applications. One of ordinary skill in theart will recognize these to be just examples of the media and data thatcan be provided to a mobile terminal. Once the content 92 has beencreated 94 and possibly also aggregated 96, the content 92 may bedelivered 98 in various methods, such as real-time, near-time,streaming, and offline. Bringing together the media 90 and the user ofthe mobile terminal for consumption 110 is the connection 100 providedby the wireless service provider or network operator. Service providerand network operator businesses can be separated into core networkoperations 102, referring to non-wireless access related networkelements and operations such as SGSN and GGSN, and access networkoperations 104, referring to wireless access related network elementsand operations, for providing different methods of content delivery 98to a mobile user. For example, the content 92 may be provided forreal-time and near-time as streaming data, and content 92 for offlineconsumption or storage may be provided as a binary object. When contentis received by a mobile terminal, the user is able to consume thecontent using end user equipment such as the mobile terminal and,typically, an application operating upon the mobile terminal. The enduser equipment and application may be provided in the form of a clientplatform 112, such as the exemplary description with reference to FIG.2, and a client application 114 that may be provided by the manufacturerof the mobile terminal. However, one of ordinary skill in the art willrecognize that third party applications may also be used to consumecontent.

Real-time consumption of content refers to a connection between a mobileterminal and a server in a wireless network. An example of real-timeconsumption is the streaming of video using cellular or wirelesstechnologies such as GPRS (General Packet Radio Service), EDGE (EnhancedData Rates for Global Evolution), WCDMA (Wideband Code Division MultipleAccess), CDMA (Code Division Multiple Access), WLAN (Wireless Local AreaNetwork), and BT (Bluetooth) connections. Other examples of real-timeconsumption are the reception of broadcast content using technologiessuch as IPDC and MBMS. Near-time consumption refers to consumption ofmedia or data that is delivered to a mobile terminal and consumed afterthe media or data has been received by the mobile terminal. For example,web pages may be delivered to a mobile terminal and, thereafter,displayed by a web browser. Offline consumption refers to the situationwhere particular content is downloaded to a mobile terminal and used ata time subsequent to reception. The content may be downloaded to amobile terminal using the above-mentioned cellular technologies, orbroadcast technologies described with reference to real-time streamingconsumption of video. Offline content may be stored in mobile terminals,such as in memory or on a multimedia memory card, memory stick, memorycard, hard disk, or other memory storage device. Typically, each ofthese media delivery methods, real-time, near-time, and offline, willallow a user to consume content using a client application such as amedia player. For example, Real Networks, Inc., provides a clientapplication for consuming video and audio called the RealOne®RealPlayer®. This type of client applications may be used to decodecontent that has been provided in a standardized or proprietary videoand/or audio coding format, such as the RealVideo® 7, 8, 9, and 10proprietary video coding formats developed by Real Networks, Inc.Similar coding formats are the MPEG-4 and H.263 coding formats.

As may be understood by one of ordinary skill in the art, existingpricing models for content delivery do not appropriately account for 3Gtechnologies such as the much larger amount of data that may be providedover a 3G wireless network and do not accordingly provide for sufficientconsumer understanding of bandwidth implications for receiving aparticular selection of content, i.e., much larger and more difficultand costly to deliver than anticipated by the consumer. For example, auser may desire to subscribe to and receive a particular televisionseries. The individual television episodes or programs to be deliveredto the user's mobile terminal from a content delivery platform via acellular network may be consumed in real-time, near-time, or offline.Regardless of the consumption method, the delivery of this type ofcontent requires a transfer of a large amount of data to the mobileterminal. For example, a twenty-two minute television program with a bitrate of one hundred kilobits per second (100 kbps) requires a transferof approximately 16.5 megabytes (MB) of data. If the end user subscribesto a specific television series that airs one new episode each day, thetotal bandwidth transfer may be on the order of 500 megabytes of dataper month. By comparison, a typical flat rate pricing model for wirelessconnectivity that allows a fixed amount of data and an increased pricefor additional data may allow 100 megabytes of data per month andadditional costs for each additional megabyte. For example, in Europeeach additional megabyte may cost as much as 1 Euro, making theconnection price for subscribing to a daily television program severalhundred Euros per month. Existing pricing models simply do not accountfor the improvements and related implications of 3G wireless servicesthat can provide the download of much greater quantities of information.Thus, improved service methods and pricing models of the presentinvention may be employed for 3G wireless content and services,particularly for implementation of content specific subscriptions by endusers. To avoid confusion, we note that data flow is typically referredto in bits, such as kilobits per second (kpbs), and that data storage istypically referred to in bytes, which are equal to eight bits, such asmegabytes (MB).

Although existing flat rate pricing models could accommodate some 3Gwireless content and services, the basic business fundamental for flatrate pricing comes from being able to predict average bandwidth usageper user. However, because 3G content presents a significantly greatervariation of potential user bandwidth averages, the existing flat ratemodel does not provide significant variation and customization forcontent and services that may be provided to and requested by an enduser. Thus, one of ordinary skill in the art will recognize thatembodiments of the present invention incorporate both a content specificelement and a service specific element such that a service contentspecific pricing embodiment may be used that allows for variations inthe type and amount of content that may be consumed by the end user toadvantageously provide 3G content and services using advantageousassociated pricing models. In such embodiments of the present invention,an end user gets a particular price for content delivery depending uponthe service requested where the connection price and content price areincluded in a service content specific pricing.

An example of an embodiment of the present invention for enablingservice content specific pricing is where an end user chooses to receivea prime time television broadcast from a particular television networkeach day of the week. A similar example may be where an end user choosesto receive a sports newscast twice a day, seven days a week. A furtherexample may be where a user chooses to receive re-run episodes of onetelevision series on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays and re-runepisodes of another television series on Tuesday, Thursdays, andSaturdays. These example embodiments are provided only to facilitateunderstanding of the present invention and are not limiting examples.The embodiments of the present invention shown in FIGS. 10, 11, 12, and13 provide further description of providing service content specificpricing.

In order to address problems presented by increased bandwidth of 3Gcontent and the services to provide such increased bandwidth content toa mobile terminal, this aspect of the present invention may be embodiedas shown in FIG. 10 as a schematic block diagram of content delivery andwireless delivery to a mobile terminal for enabling content specificpricing. In a service content specific pricing model of the presentinvention, the connectivity provider and the content provider may enterinto an agreement for providing specific content based on pricing modelsavailable to the end user. The content 192 may be provided via adelivery gateway 202 for typical mobile consumption, and through aservice content delivery server 198 for consumption by a consumer usingmobile terminal 210 through wireless access 204, such as a radio accessnetwork and associated support nodes described below with reference toFIG. 11, provided by the wireless service provider and where the mobileterminal 210 has access to a service content specific pricing serviceaccess point 205 through which the specific content for a pricing modelis delivered. Using generally available service access points fordifferent media may not be practically viable. Thus, for service contentspecific pricing, service content specific pricing service access pointsmay be used such that the supporting network system may have the abilityto transfer different media content to mobile terminals under pricingmodels in accordance with consumer usage and consumer media selectionand in accordance with mobile operator, service provider, and contentprovider operations. Service content specific pricing service accesspoints 205 are one aspect of this improved infrastructure of the presentinvention as described below.

Embodiments of the invention of providing service content specificpricing present the problem of controlling access to content anddownload of specific content through service access points. This problemcan be resolved using previously described embodiments of the inventionof providing the user the ability to gain connection to service accesspoints and updated service access points. One embodiment for providingthe service content specific pricing model is to establish exclusiveservice access points for different content; hence, service contentspecific pricing content may only be available to subscribers via aparticular service access point, a service content specific pricingservice access point, such as used by and for access to the servicecontent delivery server 198 in FIG. 10. And content acquired via thisservice access point and bandwidth usage thereof may, accordingly, notcount against the users' primary subscription plan, but would be coveredby the service content specific pricing subscription.

FIG. 11 is a schematic block diagram depicting service content specificpricing content delivery to a mobile terminal in accordance with anembodiment of the present invention. The wireless provider or networkoperator 300 and a content provider 350, such as a content creator orcontent provider, agree to specific content from which a user may selectfor service content specific pricing content delivery. The servicecontent specific pricing content is provided through a content inputgateway 322 into a content system 320 of a network operator 300. Whenrequired, the service specific content is delivered to a user through auser service gateway 324 to a general packet radio service operator 304which may be the network operator 300. The content may be providedthrough a service access point 305 of a gateway GPRS support node (GGSN)306 to a signaling GPRS support node (SGSN) 307 and then to a radioaccess network (RAN) 308. A GGSN/SGSN media gateway may provide protocoland media conversion to support packet switched services forinterconnection with a radio access network. A radio access network maybe a combination of a radio mode controller (RMC) and a radio basestation (RBS). A radio base station may communicate wirelessly withmobile terminals. Enablers 311, 312, 313 may be used in the mobileterminal 310 in order to interpret the wireless communications from theradio access network 308. Enablers refer simply to software componentsof a mobile terminal that provide services. A client application 314 ofthe mobile terminal 310 may decode the content provided to the mobileterminal 310 and present the content to the user through a clientapplication user interface 316 for consumption by the end user.

In one embodiment of the present invention, the content provider mayfeed content to the network operator's content system 320 through acontent input gateway 322, and upon reception, the content system maynotify the network operator management system 330 of the additionalcontent that has been received. In an alternative embodiment in thepresent invention, the content provider may interact with the networkoperator management system through a provider portal gateway 332 inorder to update and manage the content that is provided through thecontent input gateway 322 to the content system 320. In this manner, thecontent provider may be able to control the content that is currentlyavailable for service content specific pricing. Varying service contentspecific pricing models may be created for specific sets of content, fordifferent service access points, or other variations of content andconnectivity. The network operator may also be involved in controllingthe different service content specific pricing models that are availableto the end user. In an embodiment of the present invention, an end usermay be able to communicate with the network operator in order tosubscribe to a service content specific pricing delivery model through auser portal gateway 334 that may provide the user the ability tointeract with the available service content specific pricing content anddelivery models as established and configured in a management system330. Upon selection and subscription, the management system 330 maynotify the content system 320 to deliver specific content to an enduser. An example service content specific pricing subscription by aconsumer may provide the consumer the ability to receive and consume ahalf hour news program every day, delivered at a time after the newsprogram airs on network or cable television such as for 24 hoursfollowing 6:30 p.m. when the 6:00 p.m. national news program ends, for asingle fee for both delivery and consumption of this content. Similarly,the subscription may provide for real-time delivery and consumption ofcontent such as providing the consumer the ability to watch a morningnews and entertainment program while riding public transportation towork in the morning at the same time the program airs on network orcable television.

Service content specific pricing relies upon interaction between aservice provider and a content provider. Similarly, these parties may beinvolved in creating agreements as to varying prices for the contentthat is provided and the associated connectivity costs. For example, themore popular the content, the higher the price that may be associatedwith providing the content. Similarly, the larger the bandwidth requiredfor the delivery of the content, the higher the cost for theconnectivity for delivering the content. One of ordinary skill in theart will recognize that service content specific pricing provides theopportunity for a service provider to make agreements with a contentprovider based upon particular user access to the content. For example,service provider A may be able to make an agreement with contentprovider for decreased price of particular content based upon the factthat service provider A may be able to market the content of contentprovider at a greater rate or to a broader or focused audience ofpotential customers, thereby increasing the overall total consumption ofcontent provider's content. By comparison, service provider B may not beable to provide the same amount of end user consumption and, therefore,may not be able to receive the discounted price available to serviceprovider A. Similarly, one or ordinary skill in the art may recognizethat a service provider may be able to make an agreement with a contentprovider such that the service provider is able to retain a portion ofthe content price in exchange for offering or delivering particularcontent. One of ordinary skill in the art will also recognize thatvariation in these types of service provider-content provider agreementsmay be influenced by any number of market implications or other factors.

Returning to the embodiment of the present invention shown in FIG. 10,service content specific pricing may require a separate service contentspecific service access point 205 in order to be able to control andmeasure the content that is delivered for service content specificpricing and is accessible to end users for mobile consumption. Thus,this embodiment of the present invention effectively comes full circleby incorporating the need for updating service access point settings andthe ability to provide service content specific pricing models for 3Gcontent and service technologies. By using a service content specificpricing service access point 205, a wireless service provider may beable to build into the infrastructure of the operator systems 200 accessto specific services, potentially at specified times and/or to specifiedusers. A service content specific pricing service access point 205 maybe used in such a way that content delivery through the service contentspecific pricing service access point 205 does not generate billing thatotherwise increases the cost associated with the delivery of thecontent. For example, if an end user has a monthly service cost fortypical wireless use and further subscribes to service content specificpricing, any content delivery through service content specific pricingservice access point 205 will not create additional charges against thebandwidth allowance for the standard monthly service subscription. Thebilling associated with a service content specific pricing serviceaccess point 205 may be in accordance with the agreement between thecontent provider and the service provider.

FIG. 12 is a schematic block diagram of a content system in a wirelesscommunication system for implementing and providing service contentspecific pricing to a consumer in accordance with the embodiments of thepresent invention. As previously described, various agreements may bemade between a service provider or a mobile operator and a contentprovider such as a content creator or a content aggregator. FIG. 12shows different variations on billing scenarios for service contentspecific pricing. One advantage of the present invention is that theconsumer 410 is merely concerned with receiving the desired andrequested content from the service provider 400. In order to receive therequested content, the consumer 410 makes a single payment for both thecontent and the delivery of the content to the consumer 410. The paymentmay be a single payment to a billing service provider 482 that is thenin communication with at least the service provider 400. A singlepayment from the consumer 410 may flow directly to the service provider400. Or a single payment may be made to a billing service provider 484that is in communication with the service provider 400 and the contentcreator 452. All of these variations for payment shown in FIG. 12 areexamples of different agreements in billing variations for servicecontent specific pricing. An embodiment of the present invention forproviding service content specific pricing also requires an agreement bemade for delivery of service content specific pricing content to theservice provider 400. The content may be created by a content creator452 and aggregated by a content aggregator and possibly also a contentservice provider 454 or may flow directly from the content creator 452to the service provider or mobile operator 400.

FIG. 13 is a schematic block diagram of a content system and a wirelesscommunication system of one embodiment of the present invention forimplementing and providing service content specific pricing to aconsumer. Although the embodiment shown in FIG. 13 may resemble currentpricing models, the selection and request of the content that is to beprovided to the consumer will include both the cost of the content andthe cost of the connectivity fee such that the consumer is able tosubscribe to service content specific pricing separate from the user'sstandard subscription cost for the typical wireless services and use ofthe mobile terminal.

Many modifications and other embodiments of the inventions set forthherein will come to mind to one skilled in the art to which theseinventions pertain having the benefit of the teachings presented in theforegoing descriptions and the associated drawings. Therefore, it is tobe understood that the inventions are not to be limited to the specificembodiments disclosed and that modifications and other embodiments areintended to be included within the scope of the appended claims.Although specific terms are employed herein, they are used in a genericand descriptive sense only and not for purposes of limitation.

The invention claimed is:
 1. A method comprising: wirelessly receiving,at a mobile terminal, a service via a first service access point to anetwork; automatically and periodically initiating, at the mobileterminal, a request to receive, from the first service access point, aservice access point setting to access the service via a second serviceaccess point; wirelessly receiving, at the mobile terminal, the serviceaccess point setting and at least one instruction via the first serviceaccess point; and replacing, at the mobile terminal, a current settingassociated with the first service access point with the received settingbased, at least in part, on the at least one instruction, wherein thefirst and second service access points operate independently from eachother as a data tunnel connecting the mobile terminal to the service viaa gateway.
 2. A method of claim 1, further comprising: establishing acommunication connection with the second service access point; andaccessing the service through the second service access point using thereceived setting.
 3. A method of claim 1, wherein the at least oneinstruction comprises timing for the initiation of the request, duringeither a transition of service access point settings, or after thereceived setting is implemented, or a combination thereof.
 4. A methodof claim 3, further comprising: varying implementation timing of thereceived setting based, at least in part, on one of a plurality ofstaggered periods established for a plurality of mobile terminals.
 5. Amethod of claim 1, wherein the at least one instruction is associatedwith an operator of the network, a service provider, a content provider,an enterprise, or a combination thereof.
 6. A method of claim 1, whereinthe mobile terminal is a mobile phone.
 7. A method of claim 1, whereineither the first service access point and a second service access pointare included in one network node, or the first service access point andthe second service access point are respectively included in two networknodes.
 8. A method of claim 1, wherein the network is configured toprovide exclusive service access points for specific content.
 9. Amethod of claim 1, further comprising: initiating a switching to thesecond service access point by the network.
 10. A method of claim 1,wherein the service access point setting for the second service accesspoint is configured for delivery of content-specific pricing.
 11. Amethod of claim 1, wherein the service access point setting isidentified as needed to be updated by the network.
 12. A method of claim1, wherein the first and second service access points further operateindependently from each other as a data tunnel between a gateway supportnode and the service, and wherein the gateway support node supports thegateway for digital video broadcasting, digital audio broadcasting,multimedia broadcast/multicast service, enhanced data rates for globalevolution, wideband code division multiple access, code divisionmultiple access, wireless local area network, Bluetooth, or acombination thereof.
 13. An apparatus comprising: at least oneprocessor; and at least one memory including computer program code, theat least one memory and the computer program code configured to, withthe at least one processor, cause the apparatus to perform at least thefollowing, wirelessly receive a service via existing first serviceaccess point to a network; automatically and periodically initiate arequest to receive from the first service access point a service accesspoint setting to access the service via a second service access point;wirelessly receive the service access point setting and at least oneinstruction via the first service access point; and replace a currentsetting associated with the first service access point with the receivedsetting based, at least in part, on the at least one instruction,wherein the apparatus is embedded in a mobile terminal, and the firstand second service access points operate independently from each otheras a data tunnel connecting the mobile terminal to the service via agateway.
 14. An apparatus of claim 13, wherein the apparatus is furthercaused to: establish a communication connection with the second serviceaccess point; and access the service through the second service accesspoint using the received setting.
 15. An apparatus of claim 13, whereinthe at least one instruction comprises timing for the initiation of therequest, during either a transition of service access point settings, orafter the received setting is implemented, or a combination thereof. 16.An apparatus of claim 15, wherein the apparatus is further caused to:vary implementation timing of the received setting based, at least inpart, on one of a plurality of staggered periods established for aplurality of mobile terminals.
 17. An apparatus of claim 13, wherein theat least one instruction is associated with an operator of the network,a service provider, a content provider, an enterprise, or a combinationthereof.
 18. An apparatus of claim 13, wherein the mobile terminal is amobile phone.
 19. An apparatus of claim 13, wherein either the firstservice access point and a second service access point are included inone network node, or the first service access point and the secondservice access point are respectively included in two network nodes. 20.An apparatus of claim 13, wherein the network is configured to provideexclusive service access points for specific content.
 21. An apparatusof claim 13, wherein the apparatus is further caused to: initiate aswitching to the second service access point by the network.
 22. Anapparatus of claim 13, wherein the service access point setting for thesecond service access point is configured for delivery ofcontent-specific pricing.
 23. An apparatus of claim 13, wherein theservice access point setting is identified as needed to be updated bythe network.
 24. An apparatus of claim 13, wherein the first and secondservice access points further operate independently from each other as adata tunnel between a gateway support node and the service, and whereinthe gateway support node supports the gateway for digital videobroadcasting, digital audio broadcasting, multimedia broadcast/multicastservice, enhanced data rates for global evolution, wideband codedivision multiple access, code division multiple access, wireless localarea network, Bluetooth, or a combination thereof.
 25. A non-transitorycomputer-readable storage medium carrying one or more sequences of oneor more instructions which, when executed by one or more processors,cause an apparatus to at least perform the following steps: wirelesslyreceiving a service via a first service access point to a network;automatically and periodically initiating a request to receive, from thefirst service access point, a service access point setting to access theservice via a second service access point; wirelessly receiving, at themobile terminal, the service access point setting and at least oneinstruction via the first service access point; and replacing, at themobile terminal, a current setting associated with the first serviceaccess point with the received setting based, at least in part, on theat least one instruction, wherein the apparatus is embedded in a mobileterminal, and the first and second service access points operateindependently from each other as a data tunnel connecting the mobileterminal to the service via a gateway.
 26. A non-transitorycomputer-readable storage medium of claim 25, wherein the apparatus iscaused to further perform: establishing a communication connection withthe second service access point; and accessing the service through thesecond service access point using the received setting.